Alexandros Paporakis, a 19-year-old from Palatine, Illinois, has been arrested over an alleged plan to carry out a mass shooting at a Hindu place of worship in Aurora, Illinois. Investigators suspect he planned to target the area’s largest Hindu temple, according to Fox 32 Chicago, which accessed the police report.

Paporakis was arrested on October 11. He faces charges of making a terrorist threat, a Class X felony, and unlawfully possessing a rifle with a barrel shorter than 16 inches, a Class 3 felony.

He reportedly worked as a cashier at Taco Bell in Arlington Heights for about seven months. A co-worker alleged that Paporakis frequently made racist remarks, particularly against Indians. He reportedly identified as a white supremacist and often discussed Nazis and armed violence.

According to Fox 32 Chicago, Paporakis allegedly told the co-worker that he could not wait to kill Indian people. He reportedly discussed plans to attack Aurora’s largest Hindu temple and use a large amount of ammunition. Another person said Paporakis had described the following day as ‘special’.

Paporakis allegedly called co-workers and spoke about a gun jamming. He reportedly expressed a desire to ‘retry when I fix this’, prompting police involvement. Palatine police found him at around 3:42 pm in a parking lot near his apartment in the 1300 block of North Baldwin Court.

Investigators also reportedly found an eight-page manifesto titled Why I Fought: A.K.A. (Aurora Shooter’s Manifesto). The document allegedly contained racist slurs and hateful statements targeting people of Indian ancestry, Jewish people and Black people. According to the police report, he described these groups as ‘subhumans’ and outlined plans to kill as many people as possible.

The manifesto reportedly detailed how he obtained and modified an AR-style rifle. It also described his research into the intended target using YouTube and Google Street View. Investigators believe he had been planning the attack for two years and had focused on the location for two months. The document also allegedly encouraged others to commit violent acts.

Police reportedly recovered an AR-style rifle without a serial number, a tactical vest, eight loaded magazines, one loaded extended magazine and 300 rounds of rifle ammunition from his apartment. Investigators also found items featuring Nazi symbols, including swastikas.

Paporakis’ photograph has since circulated widely online.